


Stepping Up

by Welfycat



Series: Stargate High School [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis, Stargate SG-1
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - High School, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-12-26
Updated: 2010-12-26
Packaged: 2017-10-14 03:20:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/144783
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Welfycat/pseuds/Welfycat
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The first week at a new school seemed to set the tone for the rest of the year, and John Sheppard figured he was going to be in for a long year.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stepping Up

**Author's Note:**

> Written for High School Bingo; Prompt: Class - P.E.

A shrill blast from the coach’s whistle sent groups of students scurrying in every direction, all eager to get to where they'd been assigned. John Sheppard had never seen, at any of the three high schools he'd attended before he wound up at Stargate High School, a group of kids move so quickly at a teachers command, but then again, he'd never had a teacher like Mr. Teal'c before either.

John's group had been assigned to run laps on the track that was situated above the main gym and he followed some kids up the stairs and took off at a slow jog, wanting to warm up his leg muscles. A third of the class had been sent into the weight training room, another third was in a side room, moving through some kind of martial arts stretches with Mr. Teal'c. Some kids from the girls PE class were down on the main gym floor, working through a series of stretches while the other gym teacher was setting up volleyball nets.

This was John's junior year in high school and he didn't know anyone. There had only been a couple of classes so far, it was only Thursday on the first week and he knew that getting to know even a single person could take a month or two. His father always told him that it was because John didn't talk to people, didn't put the effort out to get to know people, and that he wasn't setting a good example for his little brother, Dave. Dave was at the local middle school and John felt that he didn't really need to set a good example for Dave because Dave was already bringing kids home to hang out with and going out to the movies and stuff. Last year, when they'd been in Tampa, it had taken John until Thanksgiving break before another student addressed him by name.

John supposed it was his fault, that he'd given up trying to be friendly somewhere along the way and just stuck to math and dreaming of the sky. He was good at math in a way that John knew would help him become a pilot, even though he hadn't worked up the courage to tell his father that was what he wanted to be.

A brief yelp from in front of John pulled him out of his thoughts, his eyes flickering across the other students as he continued to jog, until he found the source. A tall kid with long hair hanging past his shoulders was bumping into two of the smaller kids in a way that was supposed to look accidental, but to John's well trained eye was definitely no accident. The two kids he was bumping into were moving slower than most of the rest, obviously in a conversation that kept getting interrupted each time the taller boy pushed them.

"Todd, cut it out," the heavier set boy said after he'd been knocked into the smaller, dark haired boy for the third time.

"Why don't you make me? Geek," the boy called Todd asked giving the same boy another push before dropping back out of range.

John increased the pace, moving from a steady jog into a full run. He was grateful that he'd kept up jogging during the summer; he often found that jogging through whatever city they happened to land in for a while was the best way to get around.

"We will tell Mr. Teal'c," the second boy said, running a hand anxiously through his wild hair.

"Sure you will," Todd responding, giving the same boy another shove, sending him to the ground.

The second boy bent down, trying to pull his friend to his feet. "You must stop this."

"Hey!" John said, his voice sharp in pitch but low enough in volume that he wouldn't catch the attention of anyone else. "Leave them alone." He came to a smooth stop directly in between Todd and the other two boys.

Todd looked John up and down, his gaze resting on John's wiry form without appearing at all impressed or deterred. John was clearly more of a threat than the other two were, but probably not by much. "What's it to you?" Todd finally settled on.

"You should leave them alone," John repeated. He had no connection to these kids and was probably signing his own death warrant if Todd had any other connections at all. But, then again, he was probably going to only be here for a few months before they moved. He could last that long and he wouldn't have been able to look at himself and feel right if he'd just jogged on by without a glance.

"You should mind your own business," Todd reached out and put one of his hands on John's shoulder, putting some force behind it.

John adjusted his stance so that he was leaning in a little bit to counter the weight and had his feet firmly under him so he wouldn't stumble. He hadn't been a new kid at school more times than he could count without learning how to fight and stand up for himself. "Back off."

Todd moved like he was getting ready to start something but stopped suddenly and moved away, jogging at a slow enough pace that he could look back and glare at John. John lifted up his chin and glared back; he wasn't afraid of some kid who had hair like he thought he was in some kind of metal band.

A whistle sounded with a short tweet and John turned to find the girls gym coach looking up at them and motioning for them to keep going. John sighed and took off again, glad that it wasn't Mr. Teal'c, but the lady looked plenty scary all by herself. Why was it always that teachers were paying attention when they were supposed to be doing something and not when someone like Todd was pushing people around?

"Hey, wait up," one of the boys called as they followed after John at a slower speed.

John slowed down enough to allow them to catch up.

"You didn't have to do that, we could have managed perfectly well by ourselves," the boy who had been shoved to the ground spoke.

"Rodney, he did us a favor," the second boy gave the first a small nudge with his elbow as they jogged along slowly. "Thank you," he said to John.

John felt his face heat slightly. Usually people didn't thank him when he interfered; typically they seemed to think he was as scary as the person who'd been picking on them. "No problem."

"Yeah, thanks," Rodney chimed in. "Not that we couldn't have handled it, because we could have, but thanks for stopping him."

John nodded a bit jerkily. He didn't see how they could have handled Todd by themselves when Todd had at least a foot on the pair of them and probably a group of friends lurking somewhere in the school.

"I haven't seen you before. You're new," Rodney continued, obviously not asking. "Radek was new last year, he's from the Czech Republic."

"Yeah, I'm new," John didn't elaborate.

"You are not going to tell us your name?" Radek asked, speeding up a little so that he was on one side of John.

When John looked to his other side he found Rodney there, puffing a little as he jogged. "I'm John."

"Great, that's great. Rodney and Radek," Rodney moved his hand as he introduced them. "Anyway, we were planning on booby trapping Todd's gym locker. We could do it ourselves just fine, but an extra look out wouldn't go amiss either. You in?"

John took another look at the two guys he was jogging with, a little surprised. Maybe he hadn't picked the wrong side after all; he could stand up to the bullies and the muscles without too much trouble, but staying ahead of pissed off geeks was a whole different matter. "I'm in."

Rodney clapped his hands together. "So here's the plan."

John smiled a little as they jogged, listening to Rodney explain about the variety of things he and Radek had pilfered from the science labs. It was Thursday and two people already knew his name. It was going to be a good year.


End file.
